


Moon Man

by orphan_account



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M, Fairy Tale Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-09
Updated: 2017-04-09
Packaged: 2018-10-16 17:51:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10576410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: A short, fairytale-inspired story of a girl who, through the bad choices of others and herself, loses someone she cares for deeply and must decide whether to seek revenge.





	

Once upon a time, a girl was friends with a boy, one who lied and told the truth, on who would listen to her rambling and respond in kind, and she loved him for it. He told her about a man who came out with the moon, a man who shared his face. The girl asked to meet this man, the one who rose with the setting sun, because she loved her friend and wanted to meet every part of him. They set a date, and as the moon rose, the girl saw her friend twitch and shudder, and suddenly a new voice resonated from within him. The man was fascinating, both intelligent and obtuse. He knew more languages than her, and older ones at that, but she showed him silly things like how to hug. They talked and talked, and when the sun rose, she reassured her friend, who’d worried for her safety. She wanted to learn about the moon man, and so they met, again and again.

 

The girl knew she was attracted to the moon man, knew that his wit and charm were drawing her in, and tried for what felt like an eternity to resist him. He heard much of what she said to her friend and used it against her, lying and telling the truth, responding to her rambling in kind. Eventually, she gave in, as they both knew she would. It was inevitable, like the passing of the day and night or the shift between the seasons. She loved him, her moon man, and she loved her secret time with him.

 

But all good things come to an end. She grew apart from her friend, the daytime boy, whom she thought she’d wanted once, as old wounds began to reopen. She’d kept her silence then for a reason, and she continued to keep it, because she thought her hurt was an unimportant thing. But she’d underestimated the power of a thousand slights, as well as the temptation to hide in the presence of her moon man. One day the boy pushed her too far, and she cried on her moon man’s shoulder, not realizing that it was the last time she’d ever speak to him.

 

The boy later told her that the moon man had tried to upset the balance, to snatch some of the boy’s sunlight, and so the boy had had to get rid of him. The girl had been unaware and had received only cryptic signs that something was wrong. When she did find out, she stayed back, fearing that she was meddling in forces beyond her control. Her moon man slipped away, and only once he was gone did she understand just how easily she could have saved him. All she had to do was call to him during the daytime, just as dusk was about to fall, and she could have kept her beloved, although she would have lost her friend.

 

She raged against against the boy, the person she once called friend, for taking her love away from her. She blamed herself, for not seeing earlier how she could have helped. Most of all, though, she cried for her moon man to return to her, even though she knew it was impossible. She secluded herself, working in a nearby village, and decided that when she saw the boy next, she would kill him, just as he had killed her beloved.

 

But she knew his family, knew his sweetheart, and couldn’t bear to see them in pain. She knew they needed him just as flowers needed the sun, and to see him dead at the hands of a friend would crush them. So she decided, just before her return, to let him live, and when she came back to the village, she greeted the boy cheerfully, weeping only when the moon rose in the sky.


End file.
